Back to Black(‘s): White & Dark Chocolate Mousse with Red Berry Coulis

Now that I’m back at uni, I really shouldn’t be baking. I really don’t have the time, and I really should concentrate on my work. Well, that’s what I always say, right after I’ve spent 4 hours in the kitchen. I mean, especially this mousse; the cookbook warned me that it would takes hours of preparation and create tons of washing up, but I’m sooo close to baking everything in the Green and Black’s cookbook I reckoned it was worth it. But ohmigosh when I started I underestimated the washing up. Thing is, I only have 2 bowls, so when I came to whisking and mixing and separating I had to keep washing up the same bowls and then dripping washing up liquid all over my furry slippers.

It also said the preparation time would be 20 mintues for each mousse. This is a lie. It is 20 minutes if you are Delia Smith. It is 1 hour if you are human.



So I melted the chocolate and then whisked the egg whites. Ainsley Harriott once gave me some wise words of wisdom (on the tv, before you ask); when you whisk egg whites, they are stiff enough for the recipe when you can sit an egg on top of it. This…didn’t really work…but he also asked if it was a green pepper day or a red tomato day, so you have to take everything he says with a pinch of salt really.



Then I whipped the cream to fold into the chocolate. I wonder how people discovered whipped cream (see above)? To ‘whip’ the cream, you need to whisk it and churn the cream, and it must be below 50 degrees, otherwise it turns into butter. Maybe someone back in ye olden days was riding on horseback and carrying a container of cream, which then whipped it from the bumpy ride? A little abstract, but you never know!



This is a really handy tip: if you have a cake tin that isn’t loose bottomed and need to take the cake out and kind of need it to be still intact when you have taken it out, line the tin with cling film, then fill it. That way, you can flip it into a plate, feel the cling film off, then flip it back onto another plate. It’s so clever! Can’t believe I almost shelled out 8 quid for a loose bottomed tin! Ha Lakeland, you’re not ripping me off today!

This was when I was creaming the egg yolks with the icing sugar. It was so yummy :) I also really like my Piglet bowl, it is the bowl that I eat porridge in every morning and I think I agree with Piglet that:

"When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?"
"What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?"
"I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet.
Pooh nodded thoughtfully.
"It's the same thing," he said.”

:D


I actually made this cake for our college family night. We did a joint thing with my friend and her family (for those of you who don’t go to Cambridge, the family is like a mentoring system; my real parents are a little old for uni and my real children and non-existent), who cooked egg fried rice and chicken with Chinese leaf (thanks Mary!), and then we wolfed this down for dessert. There was some left, but um, I ate the evidence.



Bon appetite!

Finally done :) Now, prepare for a mammoth recipe and ingredient list below…

Lesson learned today: You are not Delia Smith, despite Green and Black’s presuming that you are (no offence).

White & Dark Chocolate Mousse with Red Berry Coulis from the Green and Black’s cookbook Serves 8-10 Preparation time: 20 minutes for each mousse. Chilling time: 2 hours for the dark mousse and then overnight for the white and dark mousse. Use: 18cm (7in) bottomless ring mould DARK CHOCOLATE MOUSSE 100g (3½oz) dark chocolate, minimum 60% cocoa solids, broken into pieces 40g (1½oz) icing sugar 80g (3¼oz) unsalted butter, softened 3 large eggs, separated 40g (1½oz) cocoa powder pinch of salt 100ml (3½ fl oz) whipping cream WHITE CHOCOLATE MOUSSE 200g (7oz) good-quality white chocolate, broken into pieces 2 leaves gelatine 300ml (½ pint) whipping cream 3 large egg yolks 125g (4½oz) icing sugar 2 tablespoons water 2 tablespoons Grand Marnier RED BERRY COULIS 225g (8oz) strawberries or raspberries 40g (1½oz) icing sugar TO DECORATE 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder or 2 punnets of fresh raspberries. (One punnet if you are being stingy). To make the dark chocolate mousse, melt the chocolate in a large heatproof bowl suspended over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Add the icing sugar and stir in the butter, then beat in the egg yolks and the cocoa and salt. Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks start to form. Separately whip the cream until thick, then gently fold the egg whites and the cream alternately into the chocolate mixture. Do not over mix, but ensure that the mixture is well blended. Place the ring mould on a large, round serving plate. Pour the mousse into the mould and chill for about 2 hours before making the white chocolate mousse. To make the white chocolate mousse, melt the chocolate in a large heatproof bowl suspended over a saucepan of barely simmering water. Ensure that the water does not touch the base of the bowl as white chocolate is especially sensitive to being overheated. Dissolve the gelatine in about four tablespoons of cream that has been warmed in a saucepan. Whisk the egg yolks and icing sugar until thick and creamy and then add the Grand Marnier, the gelatine and cream mixture and the melted chocolate. Whip the remainder of the cream until thick and fold it into the chocolate mixture. Pour the white mousse on top of the dark mousse that has already set and chill overnight. To make the coulis, purée the berries in a blender and then pass through a sieve into a bowl. Stir in the icing sugar to taste. To unmould the mousse, dip a palette knife in boiling water, dry it, then slide it around the inside edge of the mould. Lift the ring mould off carefully and smooth the sides of the mousse with the palette knife. To serve, sieve the cocoa over the top of the mousse to cover or scatter with whole raspberries. Pour some of the coulis on to the plate around the edge of the mousse and serve the remainder from a jug. Slice the mousse using a palette knife dipped in hot water. HINT: This mousse should be refrigerated before serving, especially on a hot day, but don’t add the cocoa powder and coulis until you are ready to serve.